3 Lakers who should be booted from rotation as LA gets healthy

Nov 18, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Thomas Bryant (31) moves the ball against Detroit Pistons guard Hamidou Diallo (6) during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 18, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Thomas Bryant (31) moves the ball against Detroit Pistons guard Hamidou Diallo (6) during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
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(Photo by Chris Gardner/ Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Gardner/ Getty Images)

1. Kendrick Nunn

It is truly crazy how 5-6 weeks can change things for a player, their role on the team and their perception with the fanbase. In the early stages of the preseason, it looked like Kendrick Nunn was going to have a big role on this Lakers team and potentially even be the third-best scorer on the roster.

Nunn was hitting shots at an insane clip and looked like the most polished player on the entire team in the preseason. After not seeing him play all of last year because of injury, Lakers fans were chomping at the bit to see what Nunn would add this season.

The results thus far have not only been disappointing, but they have been downright terrible. It might not be a massive sample size but Nunn has been so bad that is it really hard to justify playing him in a rotation that has a healthy Dennis Schroder.

Ironically, Nunn had perhaps his best game of the season against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. But that game was also a blowout and had no real stakes. It does not change the fact that Nunn is shooting 36.3% from the field, 30.2% from beyond the arc and is playing poor defense.

Nunn has a -8.5 Box Plus/Minus this season. To put that into perspective, there are 298 players in the NBA with at least 150 minutes played this season. Nunn ranks dead last in BPM. It has been that bad.